A collection of short, punchy essays arguing that communities are alive and thriving, but not under government control.

We are constantly being told that communities are under threat, that we are losing a 'sense of community'. This book finds that the notion of community in Britain is actually threatened by the very thing intended to protect it; relentless government and third party interventions bent on imposing their own forms of social cohesion on the population.

There is no doubt that modern societies, underpinned by a ruthlessly competitive and individualistic economic system, have undermined ties of family, solidarity and commonality. However, when an idea of community is articulated it is almost invariably along conservative and reactionary lines - with unelected spokespersons unquestionably accepted as 'community leaders', and with formal contractual relationships taking the place of 'traditional' social order. The short, punchy articles in this book criticise attempts by the state and other agencies to correct the so-called collapse of communities.

This book is for students and citizens looking to get beyond the hysterical rhetoric of the government and media to find out about the real communities of the 21st century.

Acknowledgements
Introduction: Who needs Community Anyway? - Austin Williams
Part I: In Search of Community
1. Faking Civil Society - Dave Clements
2. A Green Unpleasant Land - Alastair Donald
3. Public Space: Designing-in Community' - Richard Williams
Part II: Constructing Communities
4. New New Urbanism - Austin Williams
5. Density Versus Sprawl - Karl Sharro
6. Salvation by Brick? The Life and Death of British Communities - by Penny Lewis
Part III: Communities in Flux
7. Strictly Personal: The Working Class confined to Community - Andrew Calcutt
8. Virtual Communities versus Political Realities - Martyn Perks
9. Minorities, Multiculturalism and the Metropolitan Experience - Neil Davenport
10. From Little Italy to Big America - Elizabetta Gasparoni -Abraham
11. Rio on Galway: Immigration on Ireland - Suzy Dean
Part IV: Undermining Communities
12. Communities on the Couch - Martin Earnshaw
13. Youthful Misbehaviour or Adult Traumas? - Stuart Waiton
14. Parish Pump Politics - Dave Clements
Conclusion: A Death Greatly Exaggerated - Alastair Donald
Notes on Contributors
Index